Ice Cold
by AshleyBelleTheGinger
Summary: Crythin Gifford still stands in modern day. It now stands as a city. People bounce around names that do not fit. New London. Burning Creek. Many others. But one name stays. Misty Hollow. Sisters Sapphire and Emerald Thompson now live in Eel Marsh House, but renamed it as Misty Hollow Manor. What they don't know is...she is there with them...


(**A/N: Now that Crythin Gifford is a city named Misty Hollow, there are more stores and roads leading to Misty Hollow Manor. There's also a school for elementary, one for middle, one for high school.)**

Chapter One

The school bus roared around the corner and the bus driver slammed on the brakes, sending the students careening forward. The doors groaned open and two girls stepped off. The older one, Sapphire Rose Thompson, was a beautiful sixteen-year-old girl with long golden hair and sapphire eyes. Her fourteen-year-old sister, Emerald Renee Thompson, looked exactly the opposite. She was still beautiful, of course, but her hair was long and dark brown, and her eyes were the brightest shade of emerald. They both walked down the street to their large two-story house. There were two cars in the driveway when sometimes there were four. They stopped on the front porch so Sapphire could dig in her bag for her house key. She unlocked the door to the foyer. As usual, there was no one inside the house except for Emerald's German Shepherd, Java, and Sapphire's tabby cat, Bean, who Sapphire stopped to pet while Emerald went into the kitchen to feed her dog. There was a yellow Post-It note stuck to the top of the refrigerator and Emerald read it.

"Girls, don't wait up for me. I am going to be late from work because someone brought a new case in and I have to read it. Fix yourselves a meal and then do whatever you want. You can even have boys over if you like.

Love, Violet (Mom)"

Emerald was very irritated. "How come Mom's never home? Is her job really that important?" She said. There was no answer. "Sapphire?" Emerald looked in the foyer and her sister was not there. Neither was her cat. All of a sudden, Emerald heard a loud crash and a piercing scream from her parents' bedroom. Frightened, Emerald shrieked, "Sapphire!" and ran to the stairs. Before she could climb them, however, the doorbell rang. Emerald groaned and stomped to the front door and pulled it open.

Sapphire's seventeen-year-old friend Dennis Henrickson stood on the front porch, grinning. "Hey Emmie, what's up?" Emerald blushed, as she always did around Dennis. "Your sister here, Emmie? I gotta talk to her about something," he said. "Um-uh-okay," she stammered, and led him into the living room. Emerald looked behind her before she walked away, and Dennis winked at her. She smiled, then turned and bounded up the stairs. Java was waiting in the doorway to her parents' room, whining. Bean was there too. Emerald looked down and saw shattered glass all over the hardwood floor. She frowned and followed the trail to the bathroom.

In the bathroom, Emerald saw the mirror. There was a big black hole in the middle where the mirror should be, and shattered glass was _everywhere_. On the floor lay a destroyed boom box, its speakers blown out and the entire thing ruined. Emerald opened the closet door and saw her sister. Sapphire was clutching her bloody hand to her chest because of the deep gouge wound running across it. She turned to Emerald and said, choking, "You were right, Em. There's a very mean ghost living here and it threw the boom box at the mirror and the mirror shattered and I was so scared and I ran in the closet and it was banging on the door and it wouldn't leave me alone and-" "Shhh, it's okay, Sapphire, calm down." She snatched a scarf from her mother's side of the closet and wrapped her sister's hand in it. "Come on. Dennis is downstairs. He said he had to talk to you. You can tell me about the ghost later." Emerald slowly led her sister downstairs to the living room.

"Okay, you can let go now. Emerald, let go! I'm fine!" Sapphire shrugged off her sister's hand. Dennis looked shocked. "What happened to your hand?" "Nothing. It's a long story." Emerald was very impatient. "What did you need to talk about, Dennis?" she bounced on her feet. Dennis turned and gave her his look that meant she needed to leave. "Fine, I'll just go make myself useful in the kitchen," she sulked, and stalked away.

"What is it, Dennis?" Sapphire whispered as her sister banged pots and pans in the kitchen. "I wanted to talk to you about your sister," he whispered back. "Is that why you didn't want her in here?" "Yeah." "What about Emerald?" Sapphire asked. "You know how I said that I didn't have any feelings for my girl friends?" "Yeah," Sapphire replied suspiciously. "Well, I have feelings for Emmie." Sapphire was shocked. "Dennis, she's fourteen! And you're seventeen! What are you thinking?" "I know she feels the same way! She blushes nonstop when I'm around and she's always so bouncy around me!" Sapphire sighed, frustrated. "Okay, so why are you telling me this?" she groaned. "Because I want your permission to date her."

Emerald was sadly making dinner in the kitchen as her sister and Dennis whispered together in the living room. She had heard a few words, like "Seventeen" and "Permission" and "Date" and "Bouncy". She assumed that meant that Dennis and Sapphire were going to date. She sighed. She wanted that to happen between herself and Dennis, not her stupid sister. She started daydreaming until she dropped a very hot pan on her foot, which left a _huge_ blister around her ankle. Emerald bit her lip, trying not to scream as she waddled out of the kitchen, saying ow with every step. She limped through the living room as Dennis and Sapphire watched. Dennis was amused. "Something wrong, Emmie?" he smirked. "I dropped a hot pan on my foot, stupid!" Emerald snapped, hobbling her way to the bathroom and slamming the door. "Yikes," Dennis said, shocked. "You want to stay for dinner, Dennis? Emerald always makes enough," Sapphire said, changing the subject. "Yeah, sure, whatever," Dennis said, distracted. "Earth to Dennis! Stop daydreaming, dude!" "I'm sorry! I can't stop thinking about her," Dennis grinned.

Emerald started by looking for a lighter and a needle so she could deflate the blister before it got infected. She felt bad for yelling at Dennis because he didn't deserve that. If only he knew how frustrated she was, then he would understand. She found the lighter and set it on the counter. Then she turned to look in the medicine cabinet for the needle. She almost stabbed her finger in her haste to pull it out. When she turned around, the lighter was gone. She turned to look for it and she felt something pushing her. She hit her eye on the sharp edge of the counter with a shocking crash. Emerald crumpled on the floor. After a few minutes, she found the strength to stand up and look in the mirror. Her eye looked bad. The whole eye was bruised and bloody. "Emerald?" Sapphire said, right outside the door. "Go away!" Sapphire's footsteps faded away. Only then did Emerald open the door. She held her hand to her eye as she walked by Dennis. "You okay, Emmie?" he said. Emerald ignored him and stomped to the kitchen. The dinner was almost done cooking. "Em, Dennis is staying for dinner!" her sister yelled. "Great," Emerald said sarcastically.

Emerald refused to talk as she stabbed the serving spoon into the dish. Dennis was behind her, trying to get her attention. "Emmie, you can't just ignore me. Why won't you look at me?" he pleaded. She just shook her head. Finally Dennis grabbed her waist and turned her to him. She turned her bad eye away from him. "Look at me," he said softly. She turned her eye to him. He gasped. "What happened?" "Nothing," she replied, stepping away from him and taking the plates to the dining room and slammed them down on the placemats. Sapphire looked at her, then did a double take. "Em, what's wrong with your eye?" Sapphire whispered, making sure Dennis was out of earshot.

"Your stupid ghost friend paid me a visit," Emerald snapped, then stalked back into the kitchen. Dennis was waiting for her. "You forgot to serve yourself dinner, Emmie," he said gently. "I'm not eating dinner. And don't call me Emmie!" Emerald snarled, then turned and ran out of the room. Sapphire raised her eyebrow. Dennis came to stand by her. "Great. Now how am I gonna ask her?" he sighed, exasperated.

"Go now, while she's reading. That's when she's calmest. GO, Dennis!" Sapphire growled, pushing him up the stairs. "Fine," he grumbled. He found Emerald's room and knocked on the door. "_What do you want, Dennis?!_" Emerald yelled. "Just to talk," he replied. Inside her room, Emerald had had it. She stomped to the door and opened it a crack. "I don't want to talk to anyone right now, much less you!" she snapped. She closed the door again and flopped back on her bed. She pulled out the "book". It was really a painting. A portrait of her and Dennis. In the painting he was holding her protectively. Emerald grabbed her paints out of the drawer and finished the painting. She was just closing the mirrored sliding closet door when she heard her door open. Next thing she knew, Dennis was behind her.

"Go away." "No." "Dennis, go away. I'm warning you!" Dennis shook his head. He glanced around the room. "What? Is there something wrong with my room?" Emerald snapped. Dennis frowned. He could see the white edge of canvas poking out of the closet. "What are you doing?" Emerald said nervously, seeing as he was walking over to the closet. Dennis was trying to pull the canvas out. Emerald walked to the closet, shoved the canvas back inside, and slammed the door closed. "No," she said. "What is it?" Dennis asked. "None of your business," Emerald replied. "What book were you reading?" Emerald was startled. "What?" "What book were you reading, Emmie?" "I-uh-the one on the, um, dresser," she stammered. Dennis tried so hard not to laugh at her. "What? What's so funny?" "Your school handbook? You weren't reading a book, were you?" "No," Emerald scowled. "You were working on whatever's on that canvas in the closet." "Good going, Sherlock!" Emerald said very sarcastically. His gaze shifted to the closet. Emerald ran to the closet door and was in front of it in less than two seconds.

"Little jumpy, are we?" Dennis was confused. Emerald looked like a frightened rabbit facing death. He pulled her away from the door and slid the door open. "Whoa..." The closet was filled not with clothes, but with paintings. Dennis picked up the one that was poking out of the door and held it up. It looked like a real picture. Of Dennis and Emerald. He placed it on the bed, smiling. He pulled the next one off the shelf. "Don't look at that one," Emerald whispered. "Okay, I won't." He picked the one of him and Emerald again. "Were you working on this during dinner?" She nodded. "Guess someone's been daydreaming, huh?" Emerald looked away. "Emmie?" "What?" "Can I tell you something?" "Depends on what it is." "It's about you...and me," Dennis grinned. Emerald finally looked up. "What do you mean? I heard you and Sapphire talking about dating earlier. You're just another guy who wants to have my sister all to himself, so why should I care what you think about me? Like that's ever going to happen, anyway, what with her staring at me all the time." "Who?" "No one. Forget I said anything. Look, if we're just going to talk about how much you want to date my sister, then leave. I have enough to worry about than to be sad about myself." Emerald turned the other way and faced the window. "I do have someone I want to date, but it's not your sister." "Still. I don't want to hear it." "Emmie." "What?!" "You're the one I want to date, not your sister. Why do you think I like your painting so much?" Emerald stopped rocking and went absolutely still.

Emerald was still for maybe more than five minutes. Finally she turned away from the window. "She was wrong. She was wrong about everything. She said I wouldn't be able to have anyone who had feelings for me. She's wrong. As usual." "Who's wrong?" "My mom, she always told me I was too stupid and ugly to get a boyfriend." Dennis sat on the bed and held Emerald for a while. "It's okay, I'm here for you." At that moment, Sapphire opened the door and saw Dennis holding her sister protectively. She smiled. "Good work, Dennis." She walked away. Emerald fell asleep in Dennis' arms. Dennis moved, like he was going to leave. "No, don't go. Stay with me, Dennis. Please?" The last thing she heard before she fell away was, "Always."


End file.
